1.       PURGE, PURGE, PURGE

Studies show that we only wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.

What does that mean?! We could technically purge 80% of our clothes and would probably only notice the “loss” 20% of the time. Now, I’m not telling you to purge 80% of your closet… I’m just saying that you could.

 What I will tell you to ask yourself is:

a.       Would I buy this again?

b.       Does this fit properly right now?

c.       Does this have a stain, rip, missing button or broken zipper?

d.       Would I be confident in this if I ran into (fill in the blank person)?

e.       When is the last time I wore this?

2.       DON’T STORE UNECCESSARY ITEMS

Think of your closet as a dressing room rather than a storage unit. If you looked at everything in your closet, you probably found items that didn’t fall into the clothes, shoes, accessories or jewelry categories. Those items should be moved to another storage area in your home.

There are two pretty popular exceptions to this “rule”:

a.       Gifts that you’re hiding for upcoming birthdays or holidays

b.       Small sentimental boxes you couldn’t possibly bear to be anywhere else in the house

3.       LIGHT IT UP

If you can’t determine if a piece is black vs navy or white vs cream, you need brighter lighting. In fact, even if you can tell the difference between those colors, you probably still need brighter lighting.

When you’re getting dressed for the day, you want to feel energized and excited and the right lighting helps with that!

4.       USE VERITCAL SPACE

You don’t have to have a custom built closet to use all the space you can.

a.       Mount a vertical shoe rack or a mirror on the back of the door or on the wall that the door opens onto

b.       Put a dresser or horizontal shoe rack under a short hanging section

c.       Place off season clothing in clear stackable bins on top of high shelves

d.       Add hooks in small nooks for jewelry, purses, hats, robes or clothes that can be worn again without washing

e.       Stack shoe boxes under hanging clothes or on top of shelves

 5.       CATEGORIZE

Store items in a way that makes sense to your current lifestyle. Think about your daily routine and put the items you use every day in the most accessible spaces. Store off season clothes up high or maybe even down low. If you have a different routine on the weekends, group clothes for those activities together but not as easily accessible as the items you need during the majority of the week.

My closet is currently set up in these categories and each of these categories are color coded for easy pairing:

a.       Workout – by outfit and easily accessible for 5-7 days per week

b.       Work- by pant; by shirt and easily accessible for 4 days per week

c.       Weekend – by dresses; by pants; by long sleeve, by short sleeve, by tank top and less accessible for 3 days per week

 ! BONUS TIP! No matter what, use matching hangers!!!!!!!!!!!!